


Two Steves (Is One Too Many)

by katling



Series: Tony Stark Bingo [37]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, I mean it's not Steve unfriendly, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Steve Friendly, Post-Avengers (2012), Steve's time travelling adventures after endgame went awry, and dubious science, and even more dubious time travel, but he is the problem here, moderated for my peace of mind because of the not steve friendly tag, never trust the infinity stones, not the ending anyway, or rather the Russos stupid ending for him is the problem, sorry tag wranglers, the final destination movies have got nothing on me, the rest goes as it goes, there are definite elements of crack here, these tags are a trip in and of themselves, this fic is a trip, this is perilously close to domestic avengers in the tower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:28:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27609716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: The infinity stones should not be left unattended. They probably also shouldn't be left in the hands of a man whose decision making capabilities are a little dubious at times.Or how to screw up time travel and destabilise the multiverse - a treatise by Steve Rogers and the Infinity Stones.Written for the Tony Stark Bingo - Card 4062, Square R4: Multiverse Shenanigans
Relationships: very faint background Tony Stark/Pepper Potts
Series: Tony Stark Bingo [37]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1270763
Comments: 30
Kudos: 565
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV





	Two Steves (Is One Too Many)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this one came out of some weird shower thoughts about how stupid the Steve-goes-back-and-somehow-doesn’t-change-anything-except-the-timeline-was-supposed-to-change-anyway-so-how-the-hell-is-he-there-as-old-Steve-to-hand-over-the-shield-and-where-the-hell-did-he-get-that-shield-anyway ending of Endgame. 
> 
> See the end notes for some clarification and explanations. You'll probably still be confused but hopefully you'll also be entertained as well.

The first few incidents were kind of laughed off by all of them as Steve just not understanding the modern world. Why would someone who had just woken up after a seventy year nap know how fast modern cars go on busy New York streets for example? New York _and_ cars had changed a lot in seventy years. You couldn’t just walk out in front of them in the same way you did in the 30s and 40s. Of course, people _did_ walk out in front of them but not in the way Steve had done so. What they were trying to say is that it would have been embarrassing to lose Steve to a hit and run accident just a few days after the invasion.

But as near-death incident followed near-death incident, even Steve began to stop shrugging and laughing them off with a glib comment about the super soldier serum. And when he was nearly fatally electrocuted in the Tower by a piece of equipment that Tony, SI’s scientists and SHIELD’s scientists all swore wasn’t actually capable of transmitting that much current – at least not without being turned to melted plastic in its wake, which it definitely hadn’t been – everyone was convinced that something was very, very wrong.

The only problem was no one could figure out what it was. Other than the undeniable fact that the universe was seemingly trying to kill Steve.

In the end, they’d had to put him in the Hulk playpen. It wasn’t ideal but there was too much tech in the Tower to be comfortable leaving him alone for even a few minutes. Unfortunately, they’d learned their lesson the hard way about allowing him to have books or art supplies when he’d nearly bled to death from the world’s most epic – and ludicrous – paper cut. On the bright side, Steve was now showing some real proficiency with Tony’s holographic interface technology and his suggestions had refined the StarkPhone’s art application to the point where it was now the premier art app in the world.

“We think we may have found someone who can help us,” Tony said, looking at Steve through the thick not-exactly-glass of the playpen. He was tired, frustrated but at least now had a glimmer of hope. “We also found some odd readings during the last… incident.”

They both grimaced. It was actually kind of galling to have to treat Steve like a child and give him paper plates and cups. _And_ supervise his meals. But having nearly lost him _again_ because a plastic cup inexplicably shattered into razor sharp pieces that lodged in his throat… well, they weren’t taking any chances. It definitely wasn’t paranoia. The universe really _was_ after Steve for some reason.

“What kind of odd readings?” Steve asked, trying to keep his frustration under control. Tony and the others didn’t deserve it. Just looking at Tony’s frazzled and rumpled state told him how hard the other man was working.

Tony frowned and ran his hair through his already wild hair. He’d clearly been doing that a lot. “They’re only traces but they’re a lot like the readings we got from the tesseract and that sceptre Loki had. There are some similar but slightly different energy readings as well. But all small, just traces, nothing we can really do anything with other than say that they’re there.”

“Are they… on me?” Steve asked hesitantly.

Tony nodded. “Yeah. Every time one of those near-death incidents happens. We only picked up on it because you’re in the playpen now. Bruce wanted some sensors there to pick up energy readings so he could examine a few things regarding the big guy.”

“What does it mean?”

Tony’s shoulders slumped. “We don’t know. Yet. We’re working on it, I promise, Steve.”

Steve managed a small smile. “I know.” His smile turned wry. “But you could also try sleeping, eating and showering, Tony. I’m pretty sure you smell.”

Tony pretended to look affronted. “How can you tell from in there?”

“I only need to look at you,” Steve said dryly. “Go wash, Tony. Then eat. Then sleep. You’ll be the better for it. Let the other scientists look over your work. More eyes might help.”

Tony looked like he wanted to argue but then he sighed and nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Look, we’ve also got this person coming over tomorrow. She’s the head of some mystical order or something. I don’t know. They contacted us. Anyway, she says she might be able to help.” He wrinkled his nose. “She already knew what was going on. Which was weird. And a little creepy. And people wonder why I don’t like magic. It’s weird. And creepy.”

Steve chuckled. “I think you already said that.” He sat down on the lone chair in the room. “Tony, it’s okay. Go and take care of yourself. JARVIS is keeping an eye on me and will knock me out and summon help if it even _looks_ like the universe is trying to kill me again. Let’s wait and see what tomorrow brings.”

****

The Sorcerer Supreme was definitely on the weird side from Tony’s point of view. It also seemed like she knew what he was thinking because she kept shooting him little amused glances every time she hummed or moved her hands. And the golden glowy things she made were both weird and highly fascinating, especially given what JARVIS was picking up with the sensors in the Hulk room.

The Ancient One, as she was called, finished whatever it was she was doing then simply stared at Steve for several very long minutes, until he was twitching slightly, before she finally hummed thoughtfully and turned to Tony.

“May I see the readings you have observed from Captain Rogers? And the readings from the tesseract and the sceptre?”

“Sure,” Tony said. “We’ll have to go down to my workshop.”

The woman inclined her very bald head and indicated for him to lead the way. Tony shot a wry look in Steve’s direction and then did so. She was silent as they made their way towards the lift and only when the doors closed did she speak.

“Would it be possible to have the rest of your teammates join us?”

Tony blinked. “Uh, sure. Why?”

The Ancient One’s smile was small and kind of weird. “They will need to hear this.”

“Okay,” Tony said slowly. “J? Can you get everyone down to my workshop?”

“Of course, sir,” JARVIS replied.

It didn’t take every long to gather and the Sorcerer Supreme spent that time looking over the various energy readings they’d gathered. Tony spent his time watching her. He was pretty sure she knew what was going on. Once everyone was in the workshop, the Sorcerer Supreme turned around, slid her hands into the sleeves of her saffron coloured robes and looked at them all with a very serious expression.

“I’m afraid the universe truly is trying to kill Captain Rogers.” There was an explosion of questions and exclamations that the woman simply waited out. When they finally fell silent, she continued, “Because the Captain Rogers who is here is not the one who is meant to be here.”

“What?” Tony said with a frown. “What do you mean? SHIELD fished him out of the ice and defrosted him. How is he not meant to be here?” He paused. “Well, yeah, okay, he’s actually meant to be in nineteen forty-whatever, but you know what I mean.”

“There are _two_ Steve Rogers in this timeline,” she continued calmly. “One is here in this Tower. The other is…” 

She did one of those weird movements with her hands and a huge golden mandala appeared then coalesced into a… map of the world? Yep, definitely a map of the world with a pulsing gold dot in the middle of the arctic, right where SHIELD had found Cap.

“The other one is there.”

They all froze as they stared at the map.

“So,” Natasha said slowly. “If that…” She pointed at the map. “…is where Cap is. _Who_ is that?” She gestured in the general direction of the Hulk room.

“Steve Rogers,” the Ancient One said simply.

“Okay.” Tony rubbed his hands together. “So, why do we have two Steve Rogers? And why is the universe trying to kill one of them?”

“The multiverse, actually,” the sorcerer said brightly. “Because he is not meant to be here. The Steve Rogers that is still in the Arctic is meant to be here, not the other one.”

Tony opened his mouth to say something then snapped it closed when he remembered something. “Wait a sec…” he said and started bringing up holographic screens. 

Everyone stepped back a bit to avoid the screens and watched with varying degrees of curiosity and exasperation as Tony started rapidly flipping through things and muttering to himself.

“Wait… wait... where is… oh yeah… here!” He finally stopped, waved away most of the screen and left one hanging on front of all of them.

“What am I looking at?” Clint said with a frown as he cocked his head to the side as though that would help him decipher the science on the screen. 

“A report from one of the SHIELD scientists who was working on the whole thawing out Cap thing,” Tony replied. “She says in the report that there was an anomaly with the ice.” He turned to look at all of them. “Look, okay, we know Cap was thawed out because Agent was there.”

“So was I and so was Clint,” Natasha added with a slow nod. “Not all the time but we dropped in a few times and, yes, we saw him.”

“Right,” Tony said, pointing a finger at her. “So, we know that the Cap we have here was really encased in ice. But this scientist was studying the ice. Well, not the ice but the melted water and she found some anomalies.”

Bruce had been peering at the report and now he pushed his glasses back up his nose. “Huh. I see what you mean.”

“Can you share with class?” Clint asked with a wry grin. “Not all of us are science geeks.”

“The ice was too new,” Bruce said. “There was ice in the Valkyrie that they brought out because it held various items they thought might be worth salvaging and that ice wasn’t the same as the ice around Steve.” He waved a hand when he saw their blank faces. “The things in the water were different. Bacteria, algae, pollutants and whatnot. All microscopic stuff.”

“And she couldn’t explain why,” Tony said. “Her first thought was that the ice had been partially melting and refreezing but that doesn’t explain the differences between the ice throughout the plane. If it was body heat, then there’d be a small core around Cap, there wouldn’t be differences in the ice half a foot to a foot away from him.”

“So…” Clint stopped and frowned before levering himself up onto one of the benches and crouching there. Tony had noticed that Clint liked to be off the ground whenever he was thinking which… weird but kind of cool.

Tony turned to the Ancient One. “So, is he an imposter or what?”

“He is the real Steve Rogers,” she said with a grim calmness that kind of freaked Tony out a bit. “However, he is not supposed to be here.”

“That’s very cryptic,” Natasha said with narrowed eyes.

“It is,” the Ancient One said, looking amused. “Unfortunately, I cannot say too much. The multiverse has been disrupted far too much as it is, and I do not wish to bring it’s wrath down upon me.”

“Wait,” Tony said. “You were serious when you said the multiverse is trying to kill him?”

“Very serious. The multiverse does not usually act like this and the fact that it is, is what caught our attention. We have spent much of the time since the invasion… shoring things up as it were and only now could turn our attention to the cause of the troubles.”

“You make it sound like the multiverse has a mind,” Natasha said, her wry humour covering her unease.

“Not entirely accurate but as a layman’s explanation, it will do,” the Ancient One said thoughtfully. “The multiverse is at risk of collapsing in on itself. It does not wish for that to happen and thus, it has chosen to act.”

They all stared at her for a moment before Tony found his voice. “Collapse in on itself? What the hell?”

“What Captain Rogers has done is destabilising our particular part of the multiverse,” the Ancient One explained. “I cannot tell you precisely what he has done and why, just that it has ramifications beyond your imagination. If our part of the multiverse collapses, then the rest will follow in a cascade event.”

“But if that Steve Rogers dies?” Tony said slowly, pointing towards the Hulk playpen.

“Then the anomaly resolves itself.”

“We can’t kill him!” The exclamation came from all of them and the Ancient One held up one hand.

“I do not intend for you or us to do so,” she said. “The same effect will occur if he is simply… removed from this dimension. That is the other reason we have delayed approaching you until now. The Masters of the Mystic Arts have created a… pocket dimension, as it were. Captain Rogers will be placed within the pocket dimension and he will perceive nothing has changed, except that Doctors Stark and Banner have miraculously found an answer to his current problem and that he can resume his life. He will never know that it is simply a dream world. He will live out his life happily.”

“And we can get the other Steve Rogers out of the ice,” Tony said, watching the Ancient One with narrowed eyes. “And if we agree to this…”

“The multiverse will be saved,” the Ancient One said.

“And if we don’t?” Natasha asked.

“The instability will increase until either Captain Rogers dies or the multiverse collapses in on itself.” She held up one hand. “I should add that the longer this Captain Rogers remains here, the greater the instability gets and the greater the likelihood that even if he died or was removed, the instability would have gone too far to be stopped.”

They all exchanged glances then Clint shook his head. “Do we have a choice?”

“Not really,” Natasha said with a grimace. She looked over at the Ancient One. “Will he know?”

She shook her head. “No, he will not even notice. I have already set the first stages of the spell upon him. All I need to do now is set it in motion.”

“Why ask us then?” Bruce said, taking his glasses off and cleaning them on his shirt. He put them back on. “Why not do it?”

“Because _you_ would notice if Captain Rogers suddenly disappeared,” she said with amusement. “And you would tear the world apart to find him.”

“Ah, good point,” Bruce said, looking a little sheepish.

Tony looked at the other and saw they were all looking at him rather expectantly. He blinked and realised that with Steve out of this decision by necessity, command did more or less devolve to him. Not that they had a true hierarchy but that was, more or less, how it was. He made a mental note to talk to everyone about solidifying the chain of command then turned his attention back to what they were doing.

He took a deep breath then let it out. “Do it,” he said to the Ancient One with a nod.

The Ancient One inclined her head in return and made a small hand motion. A burst of gold flashed out from her fingers and shot through the wall in the direction of the Hulk room. 

“Captain Rogers is… gone,” JARVIS reported a moment later.

There was a moment of stillness then Tony clapped his hands, getting a few starts and mild glares in response.

“Okay, we need to make a clandestine trip to the Arctic to pull Captain America out of the ice before anybody starts asking questions. Natasha, can you liaise with JARVIS and start getting that organised.”

Natasha nodded then gave Clint a shove that didn’t unbalance him at all. “Of course. I’ll take this one with me. He’ll of no use but he’ll be out of your hair.” Clint protested but allowed himself to be dragged out of the workshop. 

Bruce gave Tony an awkward nod. “I’ll… go and put the Hulk room back to rights.”

Tony watched him go then turned to the Ancient One. “Okay, so what’s really going on.”

She gave him a small smile. “I truly cannot say. We are in somewhat uncharted territory now. All I can offer is a suggestion and a hint.”

“Okay,” Tony said. “The suggestion?”

“Concentrate on bringing Captain Rogers up to speed with the world as it is today and how it got that way.”

Tony nodded slowly as he realised they hadn’t actually done that with Steve. In fact, Steve had seemed to be relatively comfortable with using modern things even as he looked uncomfortable with the modern world. Tony had just thought Steve was a quick learner of practical things, but he guessed he was wrong there. In fact, he had some sneaking suspicions about what had happened that he didn’t want to think about too much right now.

“And the hint?”

“Perhaps it is time to repatriate the remains of Sergeant Barnes,” the Ancient One said with such mystery that Tony was both intrigued and wanted to roll his eyes.

“So, bring Cap up to speed and find Barnes?” he said.

The Ancient One nodded and smiled. “Correct.”

She took a step back and began another of those hand motions, this one a wide circle that resulted in a portal of some description opening up. Tony shuddered and took a few steps backwards. The Ancient One paused and gave him a kind look.

“And Tony? I strongly recommend seeing a therapist about your PTSD. It will make things much easier for you in the long run.”

With that, she stepped through the portal and it closed behind her. Tony stared at the spot where she’d been for a moment then he shook his head. He had a secret Arctic expedition to organise and when he got back… yeah, he’d look into that therapist idea. The Ancient One probably had a point there and Pepper would definitely be happy about it.

**Author's Note:**

> So, explanations… 
> 
> Short version - Steve creates a time paradox that is going to cause part of the multiverse to collapse in on itself when it finally reaches an unsustainable point.
> 
> Long version - when Steve had all of the Infinity Stones and was taking them back, he was thinking really loudly about his plans and had the thought that maybe he’d do something to change things for the better from the shadows so once the Chitauri invasion kicks off the Avengers, things can be better. (For his given definition of better.) That’s why he decides he’ll stay quiet about all of the events in the intervening years. In his mind, he needs the Avengers to come together for his half-thought out, cockamamie plan to work. The Stones, who don’t need the gauntlet to work together – the gauntlet can be used to compel them but they’re sentient and can do what they want if they want – pick up on his plan and essentially go, “What the hell, why not.” But they didn’t do it quite the way he’d initially thought.
> 
> So, after he’s put all the stones back and tries to go back to the 40s, he doesn’t. He doesn’t create a new timeline and he doesn’t get his dance with Peggy and live out his life, subtly changing things where he can as he’d planned. The tesseract was the last one he replaced (just in case he needed some more Pym particles) and that’s when the stones kick in with their “help”. He ends up in the Valkyrie under the water in the Arctic in the 70s. The stones basically melt the ice, replace the Steves, shove proper time Steve into a cupboard and stick time-travelling Steve where proper time Steve was and refreeze the ice. Hence, the reason why there’s “modern” (so to speak – but post-nuclear testing and post-increase in pollution anyway) water around Steve and older water around the rest of the stuff in the Valkyrie. Basically, they can tell the difference in water through microscopic means. Just go with it.
> 
> Basically, since Steve was so fixated on “doing things with the Avengers right this time”, the stones shrugged and went, “Okay.” And ignored the rest of his plan to actually live in the timeline and put him back in the best possible place to influence the Avengers.
> 
> However, time travelling Steve being the one woken up in modern time kind of throws the whole timeline and multiverse out of whack, which the stones didn’t intend, and the multiverse starts to whack back. Oh, and the near-deaths? Think of them as going to from initially appearing to be just genuine accidents to being like something out of a Final Destination movie level of implausibly ridiculous.


End file.
